


Reflection

by heydannyyouinlondon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defenders
Genre: Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Gen, Space Dad Shiro, bonding fluff, character study kinda, idek, pidge kinda likes being girly, this is probably crap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-06
Updated: 2017-03-06
Packaged: 2018-09-30 02:17:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10151087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heydannyyouinlondon/pseuds/heydannyyouinlondon
Summary: “Little girl! Yes, you there! Wouldn't you like to buy a pretty dress? A pretty dress for a pretty young lady!” A loud and mildly obnoxious voice halted Pidge in her tracks. She turned around to see what appeared to be an old lady alien wearing a rather ugly purple dress covered in vibrant pink flowers.“If they're anything like what you're wearing then no thanks,” she muttered, causing Shiro to snort loudly.“Come on, wouldn't a pretty girl want a lovely dress? Come, come!”Completely overstepping all boundaries of personal space, the old alien came up to her and latched onto her arm, dragging her over to her little shop.~~Or, the one where Pidge likes girly things sometimes and Shiro is a dad™, may eventually get more chapters with Pidge bonding with the others.





	

Pidge pushed her glasses up her nose as she leaned in to examine the object on the table. She had no idea what it could do but her fingers were itching to pick it up and fiddle with it, figure out what made it tick. Instead she straightened, trying to assume a poker face (positive that she was failing miserably to hide her excitement) as she turned to the tall, almost humanoid alien aside from the boar-ish tusks protruding from its mouth and orange skin.

“So, what’s this pile of bolts supposed to do?” she asked, trying for nonchalant. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Shiro smiling into his hand in an obvious attempt to not laugh at her, but decided to ignore him. 

“This,” the merchant said dramatically, “is the D108-9T5!”

Pidge stared. The merchant was clearly expecting more of a reaction than a couple of blank faces from the two paladins and huffed loudly. 

“Don't tell me you've never heard of it?” he said, clearly frustrated. “It was made by the Sirinians, one of the most advanced civilisations in the world! This particular invention is said to be the beginning of teleportation travel!”

Pidge was definitely starry eyed now, no resisting it. She turned to Shiro, begging him with her eyes to spend part of the team’s funds on the device, pretty, pretty please? He looked back with one eyebrow raised, clearly amused but not about to cave. 

“You make for a convincing argument sir, but you didn't you say it's only said to be the beginnings of teleportation? Clearly it's not worth our time. Come on Pidge.” Shiro turned away from the small stand and began to walk away. Pidge slumped her shoulders and hurried to catch up to him. 

“Wait!” The merchant from the stall cried. “I'll give it to you for a bargain price! Only 500!”

Shiro turned a bit, winking at Pidge on the way. 

“No, clearly you're trying to sell it far above its actual value. There's no way I’d spend more than 300,” Shiro said over his shoulder. Pidge felt some excitement rising in her stomach. Now she’d have a new project that could definitely last for a couple of months at least, if not more. 

“Deal!” the alien said, and Shiro handed over the money as Pidge drooled over her new toy. 

“Shiro, you are officially my new favourite person,” she said as they walked away. 

“Consider me flattered enough that I won't dwell on the fact that I hadn't been before today.”

Pidge nudged him with her shoulder, laughing. 

“You know what I mean.”

Instead of responding he just smiled. 

“Little girl! Yes, you there! Wouldn't you like to buy a pretty dress? A pretty dress for a pretty young lady!” A loud and mildly obnoxious voice halted Pidge in her tracks. She turned around to see what appeared to be an old lady alien wearing a rather ugly purple dress covered in vibrant pink flowers. 

“If they're anything like what you're wearing then no thanks,” she muttered, causing Shiro to snort loudly. 

“Come on, wouldn't a pretty girl want a lovely dress? Come, come!” 

Completely overstepping all boundaries of personal space, the old alien came up to her and latched onto her arm, dragging her over to her little shop. Pidge couldn't get a word in edgewise, partly because the shopkeeper kept rattling on, but mostly because she was trying to avoid breathing in the old woman's gross smell. It was like a very bad combination of old people and something vaguely like axe body spray, which really do not mix well. Pidge turned her head towards Shiro, but he was clearly far too amused to release her from her prison, following behind at a safe breathing distance. 

Gripping her new gadget in her arms, she reluctantly looked around the tiny, smelly shop. Most of the dresses were just as ugly as the shopkeeper’s: clashing colours, kind of shaped like potato sacks, and covered in weird patterns. The lady was still prattling on at her, insistent that she find something she liked. Pidge was summoning what little acting skills she had when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. 

The only reason she saw it was because unlike everything else in the shop the dress was almost elegant, with small pastel purple, pink, and yellow flowers. There wasn't a trace of the weirdly vibrant dye the others had, and without realising it Pidge was drifting over towards it. She reached out a hand to touch it, shifting her teleportation device to her hip. The dress was covered in some gauzy fabric that made it flutter gently. Something in Pidge ached a little. 98% of the time, she honestly didn't care about her appearance. So long as it was comfy and functional, who cares? But every once in a while, she’d catch herself staring at Allura’s dress. Wishing she'd been able to bring one with her to the Garrison, as stupid as that would've been; she missed her old clothes. Yet it had been so long since she'd worn anything besides her brother’s shorts and sweater that she almost felt embarrassed to wear anything so feminine. What would the others think? While she'd long since confessed to being a girl, she wasn't exactly girly. The other paladins treated her just as they had before she'd told them, which she was glad for: she didn't need to be babied and could pull her own weight. Part of her was afraid, though, that if she wore a dress they'd look at her funny, remember that she really was a girl. 

But she liked being a bit girly, liked the swish of a skirt around her legs. It reminded her of being at home, of Matt twirling her around in the living room and her dress fanning out a bit, dancing to whatever was on the radio. Of her mom helping her tying the bow in the back when she was little. The pink dress her dad got her for her birthday one year after he saw her eyeing it longingly at a store one year. 

Pidge was brought back to reality when she felt Shiro’s hand on her shoulder. She'd been gripping the dress with her fist, and her vision was a bit blurry with tears. She carefully let go of the dress and tried to casually wipe at her eyes. Shiro decidedly pretended not to notice as he said something to the old alien lady and steered Pidge out of the store, which she was grateful for. He waited patiently for Pidge to regain control before leading her back to where they'd promised to meet the others. He didn't mention her moment in the dress store either to her nor the others, for which she was even more grateful. She wasn't in the mood to talk about it. 

Once on the ship, she made a beeline for what was her unofficial workspace. Pidge sat in the chair at her desk, and closed her eyes to try and clear her mind of what had happened back on the trading stop. When she got back to earth (with Matt and her dad, of course) she could wear her dresses whenever she wanted. For now, she needed to focus on her project. If Pidge could really get a functioning teleportation device up and running, it could be a real help in the war against Zarkon. Unlike that dress. Which is obviously highly impractical. And frivolous. And unnecessary. Shaking her head, she opened her eyes and got to work. 

~~

Several hours and one exhausted amateur inventor later, Pidge finally left her workplace for her room. It was stupidly late, and she had convinced herself to go to bed after the third time she face planted onto the table. After almost tripping on nothing multiple times, not to mention nearly going into the wrong room (again), she finally made it to her own. She'd planned on flopping straight into bed, pyjamas be screwed, but when she flipped on the light, she stood frozen in the doorway. There, laying on the bed, was the dress. She hesitantly walked over to it, afraid it was her sleep-deprived brain making things up. But a hesitant touch of the gauzy material was all she needed to convince her it was real.

Pidge immediately picked up and hugged it. It smelled like the laundry detergent-stuff Coran used on all their clothes, which suddenly brought her to the very obvious question: what was it doing here? She put the dress back on her bed, feeling a little silly for hugging a dress like a long lost friend. There was a little scrap of paper on her pillow. Pidge immediately recognised Shiro’s slanted handwriting on the note and felt herself getting a bit choked up as she read it. 

Pidge,  
For whatever reason, this dress was obviously something important for you. I know that you don't have any of your old things since you were pretending to be a boy, and I wanted to help. If you're worried about the others knowing about this, don't be: Allura only knows that I needed to make a quick stop back at the trading post for something. But for the record, I’m positive the others wouldn't think any differently if you were to wear this.  
Love,  
Shiro.

Pidge wiped at her eyes for the second time that day, but this time she felt happy. Her dad might be across the universe, but she figured Shiro made an excellent stand in for now. She resisted putting on the dress right then, instead putting it carefully in her little closet next to Matt’s hand-me-down sweater. Slipping the note under her pillow, she curled up in bed and went to sleep. 

~~

The next morning, Pidge hesitantly got the dress out of her closet. She didn't feel pretty enough to wear it, but she was determined to do it anyway. She rummaged through the small amount of clothing she'd brought with her (which was pretty much nothing) and found the single bra she owned that wasn't a sports bra. She stood in just her underwear for a minute, holding up the dress. What if it didn't fit? What if it looked really bad on her? She shook her head lightly. She was just making excuses now. She carefully pulled the dress over her head. She sighed happily as she felt it swish delightfully around her knees. It was a little loose on her, but not too bad. And she felt a little thrill rush through her as she gave a tentative spin, the skirt fanning out gently. 

She procrastinated leaving her room a little more than normal; despite Shiro's reassurances, she still felt nervous to leave her room in a dress. She brushed her hair, wiped her glasses cleaned, any little excuse not to leave yet. Finally she sighed, having run out of excuses to stay.

She padded barefoot into the dining room, heart pounding as she heard her friends talking. She stepped quietly into the room, hesitating by the door a moment. Lance was being obnoxious per usual, very clearly bugging Keith to no end. Hunk was eating slowly, head drooping every few seconds as though he hadn't slept much the night before. Allura was talking with Shiro at the end of the table, both quiet enough for Pidge to not be able to hear them. Coran was the first one to notice her though, having perked up at the sight of someone to talk to. 

“Ah, Pidge! How good to have you join us! You're normally one of the first ones here, I was contemplating sending Hunk here to see what was wrong.” Hunk looked up a bit at the sound of his name. 

“Mornin’ Pidge. Nice dress,” was all he said before going back to his bowl sleepily. 

Pidge muttered her thanks and sat between him and Coran, who was still chattering away happily. She still felt distinctly uncomfortable, and could tell the others were looking at her. Allura spoke first. 

“Pidge, you do look lovely today. That dress really does suit you.” Pidge flushed a bit. Allura gave Shiro a bit of a look, who shrugged and smiled fondly at Pidge before going back to whatever conversation they'd been having before. 

“Yeah, you know, it kinda looks like the dress my little sister wore for her quinceañera,” added Lance with one of his softer smiles he reserved for the times he thought of home. “Well, hers had some actual flowers on it I think and was a lot, like, poofier, and she's at least a head taller than you. Not that that's hard or anything.” 

His smile turned to a smirk, and Keith elbowed him in the arm as Pidge attempted to scowl through the grin slowly spreading across her face. She started eating her food goo to keep the dopey look off her face. It didn't work well, but no one mentioned it, and the conversation moved on. Keith later put his hand on her shoulder as he left the room with the others and quietly said she looked great, which she was sure only added to the dopey grin.

~~

Once she'd finished, she hurried to find Shiro. Pidge found him in a hallway on his way to the training deck and called out to him. He paused and turned, and she took the opportunity to rush at him and hug him. Shiro stiffened momentarily, clearly surprised, but quickly relaxed and hugged her back tightly. 

“Thanks, Shiro,” Pidge mumbled into his shirt. She felt her eyes get a little watery as he kissed her hair gently. 

“No problem, Pidge.” She stepped back from the hug, blinking hard. 

“Did you wash it yesterday? It doesn’t smell like that horrible lady's shop anymore,” she said trying to lighten the mood. Shiro looked a bit embarrassed.

“Yeah, about that. Um. If Coran comes to you later and asks if you if you know anything about the giant puddle in the laundry room, please don't say anything. It took a couple tries to figure out how it worked.”

Pidge blinked, and burst out laughing.

“Oh quiznak, I do not want to be there when he finds it,” she said, still laughing a bit. “He’s totally gonna flip!”

Just then, a loud wailing sound reached their ears. Pidge reached for her bayard when she saw Shiro pale from the corner of her eye. 

“Wait… is that?”

“Yep,” Shiro muttered. “I think now is a prime time to leave the area, don't you?”

Pidge started to laugh again, the feeling of her skirt against her legs making her heart soar as they ran for their lives from an alien with a mustache and an accent.

**Author's Note:**

> so this is the first fanfic ive finished in an age. im fully aware that this is pretty crap but idc anymore. im thinking about having some pidge bonding moments along this vein with the other paladins, maybe also with allura and coran, we'll see. please leave feedback of all kinds in the comments, give fic suggestions if ya like, or just chat, i dont care. also this had some formatting before and now it doesn't, so gonna try to fix that eventually. i wrote this over the course of like an hour and a half today which is probably why it feels a bit rushed. i know the ending feels a bit off but i kinda just wanted to publish this so


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